Love is a Many Splendored Thing
LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING was a soap opera that ran from September 18, 1967 to March 23, 1973 on the CBS television network. Produced by John Conboy and created by Irna Phillips, the show was originally conceived as a sequel to the 1955 move Love is a Many-Splendored Thing which starred William Holden and Jennifer Jones, with the series taking place almost 12 years after the movie's events. Both were stemmed from the autobiographical novel A Many-Splendoured Thing by Han Suyin. The movie's signature theme also served as the soap's theme, which was at first orchestrated by Wladimir Selinsky, but was later reduced to an organ's theme played by Eddle Leyton, the organist of the New York Yankees. The series, which was produced in-house by CBS in New York, was cancelled, along with Where the Heart is, in March of 1973 to be replaced by another soap called The Young and the Restless, a show which is still airing to this day. After Love is a Many Splendored Thing was cancelled, Conboy went to California, where Y&R was taped, to work for the new series. About the show The series was set in San Francisco, California and focused on the lives of the Elliott and Donnelly families as well as the Chernak; Taylor and Garrison families. When the series was first started, originally, the central character was a woman named Mia Elliott (played by Nancy Hsueh). She was written as the daughter of War Correspondent Mark Elliott and Eurasian physician, Han Suyin (the roles played by William Holden and Jennifer Jones, respectively in the movie), and was following in her mother's footsteps in becoming a doctor. She had left Hong Kong, where she had lived, to go to San Francisco. While aboard ship, she met pilot Paul Bradley and developed an attraction to him. Upon arrival in San Francisco, she would become acquainted with the Donnelly family and her father's relations, the Elliott family. At first she stayed with her Uncle Phillip and her aunt Helen, which also allowed her to meet her cousin and her father's namesake, Mark. She would later meet and become attracted to Dr. Jim Abbott. However, when she discovered that Jim had committed an abortion which killed his previous girlfriend, a disenchanted Mia left San Francisco and returned to Hong Kong. In reality, the idea of an Amerasian woman headlining a show aggravated the CBS brass, which caused creator/head writer Irna Phillips to leave the show in her typical fury. She was replaced by Jane and Ira Avery who focused more on the Elliott and Donnelly families. Pre-eminent among the Elliotts were Philip, his wife, Helen and their son, Mark. Also focused were the Donnellys, headed by widower Will Donnelly, a pathologist. His children included Tom Donnelly, a police detective who later became an attorney; Iris, a college student and Laura, a novitiate nun, called Sister Cecelia. The situation of Laura being in love with Mark (who was engaged to her sister, Iris) while she was in the process of taking her final vows was another flash point story that was quashed at the hands of CBS. Irna was again infuriated, and then would focus her energies on As The World Turns which she had always felt was her personal favorite. Mark and Laura would eventually marry (after the latter left the convent), and Iris would find love with a married man named Spencer Garrison. He was running for office and was unhappily married to a woman named Nancy. He would divorce her and then he and Iris would marry. Tom Donnelly, Iris and Laura's brother, would also have his share of issues, when he would have to deal with his son, Ricky, and the re-emergence of his former wife, Martha, who was now calling herself Julie Richards. She was involved with a manipulative man named Jim Whitman, who had been killed. At first it was thought that Tom had killed him and he was standing trial for the murder, but it was later revealed that Martha had killed him and she left San Francisco. Tom, by this time, had married the widowed Helen Elliott. Other characters were featured, the most notable was one Dr. Sanford Hiller (Peter White), who was a colleague of Dr. Will Donnelly and his scheming wheelchair bound wife, Marian (Constance Towers). Will would also find romance with Lily Chernak, and the wedding would unite the Chernak and Donnelly families. Lily's daughter, Betsy, would work at the same hospital as her new stepfather, and she would find happiness with a man named Joe Taylor, whom she would marry in the series finale. Alumni Many well known names would get their starts on this series. notable among them were Leslie Charleson (later Dr. Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital); Donna Mills (who later played Abby Cunningham on Knots Landing); David Birney (later of St. Elsewhere); John Karlen (later of Cagney and Lacey fame); Andrea Marcovicci (who would later star in the soap, Berrenger's); Constance Towers (later known as Helena Cassadine on General Hospital); Veleka Gray and Bibi Besch (both of whom took over the roles of Laura and Iris respectively, and would later work as Vickie Paisley and Eve Lawrence, respectively, on the later series, Somerset); Michael Zaslow (later well known for his role of evil Roger Thorpe on Guiding Light); Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch); Vincent Baggetta (who later appeared in the TV series. Chicago Story); Susan Browning (later of the Sister Act movies), Robert Milli (later better known as Adam Thorpe on the long-running Guiding Light); Ron Hale (later known as Dr. Roger Coleridge on the soap Ryan's Hope); Grace Albertson; Gloria Hoye (who would also work on Somerset as Dr. Terri Martin Kurtz); Brett Halsey (who would later appear as the original John Abbott on The Young and the Restless); Diana Douglas (the real-life mother of actor Michael Douglas); Beverlee McKinsey (later better known as Iris Wheeler of Another World and Texas and as the original Alexandra Spaulding of Guiding Light); Leon Russom (later of Another World) and David Groh (who would later play Rhoda Morgenstern's first husband, Joe Gerard on the sitcom, Rhoda). PARTIAL CAST *NANCY HSUEH -- Mia Elliott *GRACE ALBERTSON -- Helen Elliott Donnelly *LEN WAYLAND -- Phillip Elliott *DAVID BIRNEY -- Mark Elliott *DONNA MILLS -- Laura Donnelly Elliott *LESLIE CHARLESON -- Iris Donnelly Garrison *JUDSON LAIRE -- Dr. Will Donnelly *ANDREA MARCOVICCI -- Dr. Betsy Chernak Taylor *DIANA DOUGLAS -- Lily Chernak Donnelly *ALBERT STRATTON -- Tom Donnelly *SHAWN CAMPBELL -- Ricky Donnelly *BEVERLEE McKINSEY -- Martha Donnelly aka Julie Richards *CONSTANCE TOWERS -- Marian Hiller *PETER WHITE -- Dr. Sanford Hiller *VINCENT BAGGETTA -- Dr. Peter Chernak *LEON RUSSOM -- Joe Taylor. Category:Shows